Who is finding nursing school way easier than you were told it would be?

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Who is finding nursing school to be easier than expected? After reading posts and listening to students, I would have expected nursing school to be a lot harder. So far, it's quite easy. The only "hard" part about it is a lot of nonsensical busy work. The concepts themselves are quite easy. At first, I studied a lot due to hearing all the horror stories, but as time passes, I find myself not even starting the reading material until the night before a test and I'm acing all of the tests. I was also shocked at the medical math - it's about FOURTH GRADE LEVEL math! I felt like yelling out, "I'm smarter than a 5th Grader!!!!" LOL Same with some of the pharmacology & pathophysiology - fairly simple & straight forward.

Anyone else find the nursing program to be kind of Mickey Mousish? Let's hear from the other side & give some BALANCE to these false horror stories that are circulating about nursing school being difficult. :up:

In some ways I disagree with nursing school being "easier" than expected. A lot has to do with the manner in which information is presented. If I know what is expected of me I have a much easier time (in the case of block 1) however, block 2 was a "crap shoot" because we were given an excess of information which one had to wade through in order to sort out what was being taught. I worked very hard, in many cases "teaching myself" in block 2. I'm hoping that I will find a more meet me half way approach in block 3. I'm willing to pay attention and study I just would like to know what content I am expected to understand and apply.

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I am currently a student of an accelerated nursing program where i do my ADN classes in a community college and BSN classes in a university at the same time. I am currently in Block 3 (Pediatric, OB, Med/Surg all in one block). I did not find Block 1 (fundamentals of nursing) THAT hard. I enjoyed Block 2 (MedSurg) a lot! i had an awesome professor and got 99.99% on my HESI exit exam. I just had my first pediatric exam yesterday and OH GOD! that exam was hard! i was right on the border of passing. Out of 30, only 4 have passed.. (Mind you, i was a straight A student before i got accepted to the program) I find doing at least 50 NCLEX questions every day very helpful! :)

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After graduating nursing school and entering the profession, I can attest to the previous poster saying that NS teaches you roughly 20% of what you need to know to be a successful nurse. In my case, I can say that NS taught me much less than that. However, it wasn't due to my university poorly equipping us with the lastest EBP, it was my speciality. I am in NICU and in nursing school we got exactly 2 shifts in NICU and breezed passed it during our OB lecture course. Having talked to many of my former classmates who work in specialties that were discussed in nursing school, namely adults, they still feel like they weren't adequately prepared to be an independent nurse. Because universities are not preparing nurses to be independent upon graduation, it is falling on the hospitals to adopt that burden. Many hospitals now aren't willing to take on GNs because they know it will take another 3-6 months to get them competent to take on a full patient assignment. Personally, I would actively pursue the GN programs that still exist. They prepare nurses for that transitionary period between nursing school and becoming a full-fledged nurse. I have learned a ton thanks to my hospital... I feel indebted to them for making me into a nurse. Personally, I don't believe it should be the hospitals responsibility to carry that burden but that is for another post entirely.

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I'm glad to see other people telling the truth about this....I was really surprised at how low the academic expectations were in nursing school (and I went to a fancy-schmancy big-name school with an accelerated program). It wasn't at ALL what I pictured after months of reading horror stories on this site. Fifth grade math, eighth grade writing skills, and "research" only occasionally at a college level. I have a master's in another field, and I'm comfortable as a traditional student - I read quickly, remember material easily from books, take tests and write papers without excessive anxiety. Obviously not everyone has those advantages...but still, this is supposed to be college.

For me, the difficult aspects of nursing school were 1) being surrounded full-time by a group dynamic that escalated and reinforced anxiety, 2) busywork, sometimes so silly and time-consuming that it actually felt insulting, and 3) the social experience - I was much older than most people in my class, and I moved from out of state, so I felt isolated, and 4) my concern about taking on the responsibilities of a nursing job without knowing anything useful/relevant.

I was a front-line social worker for a long time before starting school...but even after everything I put up with in that field, it was very hard at times to grit my teeth, put my head down, and just do what I was told I had to do. I just graduated, thank goodness.

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I'm glad to see other people telling the truth about this....I was really surprised at how low the academic expectations were in nursing school (and I went to a fancy-schmancy big-name school with an accelerated program). It wasn't at ALL what I pictured after months of reading horror stories on this site. Fifth grade math eighth grade writing skills, and "research" only occasionally at a college level. I have a master's in another field, and I'm comfortable as a traditional student - I read quickly, remember material easily from books, take tests and write papers without excessive anxiety. Obviously not everyone has those advantages...but still, this is supposed to be college. For me, the difficult aspects of nursing school were 1) being surrounded full-time by a group dynamic that escalated and reinforced anxiety, 2) busywork, sometimes so silly and time-consuming that it actually felt insulting, and 3) the social experience - I was much older than most people in my class, and I moved from out of state, so I felt isolated, and 4) my concern about taking on the responsibilities of a nursing job without knowing anything useful/relevant. I was a front-line social worker for a long time before starting school...but even after everything I put up with in that field, it was very hard at times to grit my teeth, put my head down, and just do what I was told I had to do. I just graduated, thank goodness.[/quote']

This is comforting to read! Thanks!

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Agree with some of the earlier posts: a lot can depend on your teachers and how the information is presented. There's also differences in teaching for "real world" and teaching for the NCLEX. I can appreciate that our teachers let us know the difference but to me, right now, the NCLEX is the most important because lets face it, without it there is no "real world" because you won't have a job as a nurse. Starting new blocks has been frustrating because it seems all the rules change each time a new one starts. Even with math! Since I'm only on block 3 I cant say yet which is most difficult but we lost about 3 people after block one and i believe 5 after block 2 (out of 38 students). The class behind us lost 10% of their class in block one. So I really think it just depends on how you adapt and learn and it is best to be over prepared and be happy you aced everything than anxious and struggling because you didn't prepare til the night before an exam.

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This is good to hear! I'm glad you think so! :)

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I learned nothing useful in nursing school, it actually reduced my knowledge base because it focused on trivia instead of major concepts. Nursing school lays the groundwork for the endemic problems of the profession: its more about busy work, snide remarks and inflated egos than learning the fundamentals.

I agree completely with this assessment. IMO, nursing school was a necessary evil and not something I will ever have fond memories of. Just for the record, I found the NCLEX exam to be easier than it is hyped to be. Most of what I learned I learned from intense self-teaching, not nursing school.

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In some ways I disagree with nursing school being "easier" than expected. A lot has to do with the manner in which information is presented. If I know what is expected of me I have a much easier time (in the case of block 1) however, block 2 was a "crap shoot" because we were given an excess of information which one had to wade through in order to sort out what was being taught. I worked very hard, in many cases "teaching myself" in block 2. I'm hoping that I will find a more meet me half way approach in block 3. I'm willing to pay attention and study I just would like to know what content I am expected to understand and apply.

This is my point exactly. I found nursing school to be a situation where you are basically teaching yourself as best you can. The instructors give you a ton of material and you are tested on only a small fraction of it. And you are given no indication whatsoever what will appear on tests. I found the questions on the real NCLEX exam to be easier and easier to figure out than the made-up ones they give you in school as "practice". Their "advice" was if you work, cut your work hours back for school and study. For me this wasn't an option. But I made it through anyway. It's mostly self-teaching and finding the best way to teach youself these things you need to know.

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This is my point exactly. I found nursing school to be a situation where you are basically teaching yourself as best you can. The instructors give you a ton of material and you are tested on only a small fraction of it. And you are given no indication whatsoever what will appear on tests. I found the questions on the real NCLEX exam to be easier and easier to figure out than the made-up ones they give you in school as "practice". Their "advice" was if you work, cut your work hours back for school and study. For me this wasn't an option. But I made it through anyway. It's mostly self-teaching and finding the best way to teach youself these things you need to know.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for this. I will most likely be starting next fall or spring when my # comes up through Maricopa nursing and want to continue to work full time. I have a fairly lucrative position in medical sales (10 years tenure) that is hard to come by. I have done well in all my pre-req and co-req classes with minimal amount of studying and I was curious just how hard nursing school will be. I may approach my employer about going to part-time but haven't decided yet what that conversation would look like.

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agree with irish. too much busy work and not enough real science. that's why i say no to holistic junk!!!!! worse yet, one of my instructors (heard she was slapped upside the head for idiocy) in 2010 had our class cook for a project - we got graded on taste and table setting - :::::shaking head:::: huh??!! what is this??? nursing school or suzyhomemakerschool???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Say no to holistic care? Why would you feel that way? Caring for a patient holistically is the best way to do so. It's the whole pt & their families. Are you in a BSN program? They really enforce evidence based nursing practice & holistic care in those programs. I go to GCU & I truly appreciate my professors & the curriculum for leading me on the right path of achieving what's expected for healthcare by 2020. Maybe your teacher wasn't literally showing you table manners but manners in general. Maybe that's her way of teaching professionalism... Try to appreciate your teachers bc I think they do what they do for particular reasons.

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This thread makes me feel a whole lot better. I, too, was wondering why there is so much feedback regarding the difficulty of nursing school but little about the ease of it. I guess everyone is different, as is their perception of a challenge. :)

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